| MOVIE REVIEWS
V for Vendetta
Starring: Hugo Leaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea
Director: James McTeigue
Metro Goldwin Mayer & Columbia
-- reviewed by
Row Bowman
‘V for Vendetta’ creates discussion among audiences
“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” And the people should be afraid of how eerily accurate the film adaptation of the 1980s comic book series depicts political concerns.
The film is set around 2020 against the backdrop of a totalitarian Great Britain. Fortunately, the audience is spared from seeing the overly used flying cars common among movies set anything more than five years into the future.
V, a masked man played by Hugo Weaving, is the terrorist, hero, antihero, lover and hater, who allows his vengeance to grow into explosively enormous proportions. He retaliates against the tyrannous and oppressive regime that has caused him and many others great pain. Though V has great movements and fights scenes, his words are occasionally lost behind the mask. Weaving has to use great fight choreography to compensate for the boredom that he inflicts on the audience.
The true star of the movie is Evey, played by Natalie Portman. After being both rescued and victimized by V, she becomes an ally and discovers the fearless, heroic being suppressed within. Portman mesmerizes and enraptures the audience simply with her presence.
The movie has excellent cinematography and exhilarating explosives, but the most impressive gift is the political theme that forces the audience to question the movie, our governments and the rest of society.
Despite the degree that an audience member likes or dislikes the movie, if the person leaves the theater differently than upon arriving, the movie has done its job.
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